Denture cleaning agitator



Oct. 14, 1969 RJ. BLANK ET AL 3,472,493

DENTURE CLEANING AGITATOR v Filed Jan. 5. 1968 noun BLANK Ames M. 4FRoMAN Aun ewes mmm United States Patent O 3,472,493 DENTURE CLEANINGAGITATOR Robert J. Blank, 4002 Buchanan St., and lCharles M.

Friedman, 4303 Pierce St., both of Hollywood, Fla.

33021, and Bruce Richman, 501 NE. 180th Drive,

Miami, Fla. 33162 Filed Jan. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 695,964 Int. Cl. B01f11/00 U.S. CL 259--72 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A denturecleaner device including a tank for denture cleaner solution and avibratory member energized by a household power source for vibrating thetank and solution therein.

BACKGROND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention An apparatus for thecleaning of` dentures.

Description of the prior art There have been numerous proposed devicesand arrangements for the cleaning of dentures. The typical arrangementfor the home typically involves a fixed tank or container which holds adenture solution into which the denture plates are placed overnight.This type of arrangement is analogous to the placing of soiled clothingin 'a washing tub overnight without subjecting it to agitation. Theresult of such denture cleaner arrangement is the dentures are noteffectively cleaned and to clean overnight, soaking has been requiredwherein the patient must leave dentures out overnight. This causes jawtiring and muscle spasms. There have been other more ultrasonic cleaningdevices, acid and bleaches but few, if any, are simple or safe enoughfor household use and provide the desired results.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, the generalized structure of theinvention comprises a plastic container having a tank formed by acontinuous thin inner wall and bottom and having a housing formed by acontinuous thin outer wall joined to said inner wall and surroundingsaid inner wall; a base plate having a surface, resilient members havinga limited contact area and extending beneath said surface for supportingsaid apparatus; a core member coupled to said bottom of said tank and tosaid base plate; and a magnetic vibratory means for vibrating at least aportion of said core member whereby said tank and denture cleanersolution are vibrated and `dentures placed in said tank are cleaned.This structure provides a vibration and agitation of the denture cleanersolution such that the false teeth prosthetic or orthodontic appliancesare maintained substantially spotless and unsoiled. The invented denturecleaner apparatus is exceedingly simple, low cost and completelyconsistent with trouble-free home use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of thedenture cleaner apparatus;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional front view taken along the line 2 2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side view taken along the line 3 3 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a partial bottom section taken along the line 4 4 of FIGURE3.

3,472,493 Patented Oct. 14, 1969 Referring to the figures, the dentureapparatus comprises a plastic container 10 having a cover 12, a baseplate 14 and a core member 16 (FIGURES 1 and 2). The container 10includes a tank 18 formed by a continuous thin inner wall 20 and abottom 22. A housing 24 is formed by a continuous thin outer wall 26which completely surrounds the tank 18 and which is joined thereto.Preferably, the housing 24 is connected to the tank 18 by a reinforcedportion 28 which is integral with inner wall 20 and outer wall 26thereby forming a continuous one-piece unit. Such a construction maytypically be formed by injection molding a plastic such as apolypropylene. The reinforced portion 28 'is formed by ribs in the moldwhich enables plastic to flow therein creating a solid or reinforcedportion. The cover 12 is formed of the same material as the tank 18 andthe housing 24 and has an inner lip 28 which may be snugly fit into theopening of tank 18 so that the unit in essence is splash proof.

The base plate 14 includes a llat surface which may take the form of aseparate bottom housing member 32 which is made from the same type ofplastic as container 10 and cover 12. The bottom housing member 32extends to the boundary of container 10 and `conforms in shape with thecontainer. An inner circumferential lip 35 extends a sulicient height toclose the container while the bottom housing member 32 does not abut orcontact the outer wall 26 or any other part of container 10. Resilientsupport members 34 which typically may take the form of conical rubbermembers spaced about the bottom housing member in a triangularconfiguration and having their apex extending downward away from saidflat surface to support said apparatus with a resilient point-likecontact. This tends to facilitate vibration of the tank. The conicalmember 34 may be press fit into apertures in bottom housing member 32and a heat sink 36. Heat sink 36 may be a flat thermally conductiveplate within said circumferential lip 35 having a substantial area forthe dissipation of heat that is transferred thereto from core member 16.The heat sink may be joined to the bottom housing member 32 by afastening means such as screws 38 which extend through said heat sink 36and said housing member 32 as well as extending through a plateaubracket 40 to secure it thereto. The plateau bracket 40 has a pair ofplanar legs 42 and a plateau 44 substantially midway between said legs42. The center portion of bracket 40 is in the vicinity of center line46 of container 10. The plateau portion 44 has :a fastener 46 locatedtherein for securing the core member 16 to the base plate 14. Theplateau portion along with the fastener 46 and legs 42 ser-ves as theheat path from core member 16 to heat sink 36.

The core member 16 preferably takes the form of a U-shaped member havinga rst leg 50, a second leg 52 and a curved portion 54. A substantialportion of the legs 50 and 52 are located on one side of center line 46while the curved portion 54 is located on the other side of center line46. The second leg 52 is secured to the plateau portion 44 while thefirst leg 50 is connected to the bottom 22 of tank 18 by a fasteningmeans (e.g., a screw) 56. Located between first leg 50 and second leg5-2 is a magnetic vibrating means 60. Means 60 may take the form of amagnetic vibratory spool which may include an electromagnet operated byhousehold current via conductors 58 connected to the usual householdsocket by a plug (not shown). The magnetic spool 60 is secured adjacentto or in the proximity of the end of second leg 52 and is spaced fromthe end of rst leg 50 which is free to be vibrated by the magnetic spoolwhich tends to attract arm 50.

It should be noted that the entire tank and housing is supportedindirectly by the resilient means 24 via plateau bracket 40, core member1-6 and fastening means 46 and 56. This relationship of parts with thetank in essence freely floating facilitates vibration.

In operation, the tank 18 is filled with a suitable denture cleaner(H3PO`.,k is not a conventional denture cleaner) and the denture plateis placed in the cleaner and the cover 12 positioned to enclose tank 18.The plug (not shown) is placed in the household socket and magneticspool 60 is thereby energized. The energization of spool 60 causes freearm 50 to vibrate which in turn vibrates tank 18 and the denture cleanersolution 8 therein. This serves to effectively clean the denture. Theheat developed -by the magnetic spool 60 is passed to heat sink 36 Whereit is dissipated. The bottom housing member 32 may contain apertures tofurther facilitate this heat dissipation. Other apertures may beincluded in the housing to facilitate cooling.

The single piece plastic construction along with the U-shaped coremember which straddles the magnetic spool is centrally mounted forms thebasis for an extremely simple and effective apparatus for cleaningdentures. It is easy to fabricate, relatively low in cost and isvirtually trouble-free in operation. It has been found to effectivelyclean dentures in the manner heretofore only accomplished by more exoticapparatus such as ultrasonic devices.

Although this invention has been disclosed and illustrated withreference to particular applications, the principles involved aresusceptible of numerous other applications which will be apparent topersons skilled in the art. The invention is, therefore, to be limitedonly as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A denture cleaner apparatus comprising:

a plastic container having a tank formed by a continuous thin inner walland bottom and having a housing formed by a continuous thin outer walljoined to said inner wall and surrounding said inner wall;

a base plate having a surface;

resilient members having a limited contact area and extending beneathIsaid surface for supporting said apparatus;

a core member coupled to said bottom of said tank and to said baseplate;

a magnetic vibratory means for vibrating at least a portion of said coremember whereby said tank and denture cleaner are vibrated and denturesplaced in said tank are cleaned; said core member having a U-shapedconfiguration with a first and second leg joined by a curved section,said rst leg coupled to said base plate and said second leg coupled tothe bottom of said tank; said magnetic vibratory means xed to said rstleg adjacent the end thereof and spaced from said second leg, saidmagnetic vibratory means including a coil connectable to a householdoutlet and providing a magnetic eld which attracts said second legwhereby said second leg is vibrated which in turn vibrates said tank anddenture cleaner solution therein; and,

a plateau bracket having a pair of legs and a plateau therebetween, saidplateau coupled t-o said iirst leg of said U-shaped core member and saidpair of legs coupled to said base plate, said U-shaped member positionedon said plateau so that said first leg and said magnetic vibratory meansat least in part are unsupported thereby.

2. The structure recited in claim 1 wherein said plastic container has acenter line and said U-shaped member is located so that a substantialportion of said leg is located on one side of said center line and asubstantial portion of said curved section is located on the other sideof said centerline.

3. The structure recited in claim 2 wherein said second leg is joined tosaid bottom of said tank in the vicinity of said center line.

4. The structure recited in claim 1 wherein said base plate comprises aplastic bottom housing member and a heat sink connected to said U-shapedmember for dissipating the heat generated by said magnetic means.

5. The structure recited in claim 1 wherein said resilient supportmembers have `a conical shape with an apex extending away from said baseplate.

6. The structure recited in claim 1 wherein said inner Wall and saidouter wall are an integral molded plastic with a reinforced portionjoining said walls.

7. The structure recited in claim 1 including a cover to cover saidtank.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,113,761 12/1963 Platzman 259-723,151,846 10/1964 George 259-91 3,352,311 11/1967 Murphy 259-72 X ROBERTW. JENKINS, Primary Examiner l i

